President Joe Biden delivered in Philadelphia on Thursday evening, calling out former President Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans for threatening American democracy.
“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden began in his address at Independence Hall. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden continued.
The speech comes amid ongoing assertions from Republicans that the 2020 election was stolen and that Trump is the rightful president of the U.S.
Hours before Biden delivered his speech, news broke that Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, emailed Wisconsin legislators in November 2020 and asked them to reverse Trump’s election loss to Biden in that state. The majority of the GOP has stood firmly beside Trump, but Biden makes it clear that their message imperils U.S. democracy as we know it.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards,” he continued. “Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”
Democrats currently control both houses of Congress. Since the beginning of Biden’s term, they have been able to push through landmark legislation, which ushered in welcomed changes to health care, climate change and veterans’ benefits. In two months, the midterm elections could shift the balance of power.
Biden urged listeners to vote.
“History tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader, and the willingness to engage in political violence, is fatal to democracy. There is no question that the Republican Party is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans.”
